MUMBAI:
Pakistan’s choice to U-turn and go forward with their blockbuster Group A match in opposition to India on the T20 World Cup on February 15 was hailed Tuesday as an outbreak of “good sense” and “good for cricket”.
The Pakistan authorities in Islamabad late on Monday evening ended a week-long stand-off by rescinding its order for the cricket group to boycott the match in Colombo.
The most important and most profitable conflict in world cricket was revived after a frantic weekend of negotiations.
It culminated in Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chiefs flying to Lahore on Sunday for talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The governments of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka each wrote to the Islamabad authorities on Monday urging it to alter its stance and permit the sport to go forward, and simply earlier than midnight they acquired their want.
After “multilateral discussions, in addition to the request of pleasant nations, the Authorities of Pakistan hereby directs the Pakistan Nationwide Cricket Staff to take the sphere on February 15”, the Islamabad authorities stated on its official X account late Monday evening.
The choice had been taken with the goal of “defending the spirit of cricket”, it added.
Former India cricketer Madan Lal advised AFP on Tuesday: “Pakistan did shake up the ICC by repeatedly saying they’d not play.
“Finally, the ICC needed to ship officers to Pakistan to type out the difficulty” and that was “good for cricket”.
“We wish robust groups to play in order that the appeal of the World Cup is just not misplaced,” he added.
‘Loss-loss state of affairs’
Sri Lanka, who will host the match which generates multi-millions of {dollars} in promoting, broadcast rights, sponsorship and tourism, additionally hailed the choice.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake thanked Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for “making certain the sport all of us love goes on”.
“Delighted that the eagerly awaited India and Pakistan match on the ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup in Colombo will proceed as deliberate,” Dissanayake stated in a social media put up.
Veteran Indian journalist Pradeep Journal advised AFP “good sense has prevailed on all sides”.
Monetary concerns would have been taken into consideration, he added.
“India-Pakistan is not only about cricket income — it additionally means wider business income,” he stated.
“Everybody realised that dropping the income from an India-Pakistan match would have been a loss-loss state of affairs for all ICC member nations.”
Bitter political rivals Pakistan and India haven’t performed bilateral cricket for greater than a decade and meet solely at international or regional match occasions, and solely on impartial territory.
The 20-team match had been overshadowed by an acrimonious political build-up.
Bangladesh, who refused to play in India citing safety issues, had been changed by Scotland.
As a protest, the Pakistan authorities ordered the group to not face co-hosts India within the Group A fixture.
Pakistan, who edged out Netherlands within the match opener on Saturday, would have conceded two factors if they’d forfeited the match, which may have put their possibilities of progressing within the match in jeopardy.
They play the USA of their second group match in Colombo later Tuesday.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav stated on Friday that his group would journey to Colombo for the conflict, whether or not the sport was on or not.
“We have not stated no to taking part in them,” Suryakumar stated. “Our flights are booked and we’re going to Colombo.”
